Voltaire, as a dramatic writer, studied only to complete what is called _stage effect_; and with him, moreover, originated the contemptible practice, now so prevalent in France, and once so much in this country, (and which the Irish triumvirate justly call '_blarneying John Bull_,') of flattering the passions, and pouring incense on the high altar of popular vanity.--_Foreign Review._--Nearly all Colman's comedies have this glaring weakness, although some allowance should be made for the strong excitement amidst which they were first produced on our stage. * * * * * It was a remark of Lord Chatham's, and equally so of Mr. Burke's, that the occasional use of low words does not detract from the dignity of true eloquence. Mr. Canning and some of his successors have, however, ventured to differ from these two great men. * * * * * The people of England have, in the last year, consumed one half more of candles, soap, starch, bricks, sugar, brandy, and one-third more of tea, than they did only twelve years ago, a date which seems to most of us recent.--_Finance Article, in Quarterly Review._ * * * * * THE ANECDOTE GALLERY DR. SOUTHEY. BALLADS VERSUS BONNETS. (_For the Mirror._) A Mr. L------, a respectable straw-hat manufacturer, from the vicinity of Bond-street, who had dabbled considerably in the fine arts, in the way of sketches and outlines, taken at the different watering-places which he visited, determined on making a tour to the Lakes, "in search of the picturesque." Desirous of rendering his journey poetically interesting, he solicited from a friend of his in town, who was acquainted with Dr. Southey, a letter of introduction to the Laureate, which was accorded. But the epistle, instead of describing Mr. L------ as an artist, merely designated him "an honest bonnet-maker," who had a _penchant_ for lionizing, and who desired to be introduced to Dr. Southey in "the way of business." With this vexatiously facetious and laconic scrawl, poor Mr. L. made his way to the Lakes, and in due time was ushered into the Parnassian presence of the author of "Thalaba." The address of one of Southey's celebrity might well perplex a "man of straw;" and it had somewhat of this effect on our tradesman-artist; who, however, according to his own account of the affair, bustled through pretty tolerably; adopting the _nonchalance_ of Geoffrey Crayon's uncle on entering a superb drawing-room--looking around him with an air of indifference, which seemed to say, "he had seen _finer things_ in his time." After some desultory conversation, regarding the heights of hills, the breadths of lakes, and the curative influence of the sentimental region on the smoke-dried citizens, mixed with some elaborate eulogies on the "_Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society_," the "last new work" of the Doctor's, he began to evince a